Homelessness on the Rise in Japan Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Times of India - Dec 6, 2001 Japan's Homeless Population Rises to Over 24,000 TOKYO (AP)--Japan's homeless population has risen in the past two years, as hard economic times put more people out of work and onto the streets, the government said on Wednesday. The number of people living on the streets or in state-run shelters nationwide rose 17.8 per cent to 24,090 at the end of September from 20,451 in October 1999, when the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry last conducted its survey, a ministry official said. The official refused to give his name. Most of the homeless people were concentrated in three of Japan's biggest cities - Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo. Osaka reported the largest homeless population at 8,660, followed by Tokyo, which had 5,600 people on the streets, the official said. Homelessness is still viewed in Japan as an embarrassment, and groups that run private shelters and soup kitchens have said the actual numbers are probably much higher. Japan has been struggling to revive its stagnant economy for more than a decade. Unemployment in Japan has reached a record-high 5.4 per cent, as an increasing number of ailing Japanese corporations have gone bankrupt. The rise in joblessness has prompted the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its main opposition rival, the Democratic Party, to consider drafting a new law to help the homeless find work. Currently, Japanese law only provides for handouts to the homeless. The new legislation reportedly would for the first time make the government responsible for helping those living on the streets to start afresh by finding jobs and a place to live. The ministry plans to open at least three new homeless shelters this fiscal year ending March next year, increasing the number of government-run facilities to eight, the ministry official said.(AP) http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_ID=2095377200 ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytlab-12.17.01-22:50:00-15038